Your Guide to Being 3 Weeks Pregnant:
A brand new life begins
Your egg contains an X chromosome. Each sperm contains either an X (girl) chromosome or a Y (boy) chromosome, and your child’s gender is determined by which sperm fertilises your egg.
Boy sperm swim faster but die sooner. Girl sperm last longer but swim slower. So it’s said that having sex before ovulation increases your chances of a girl because the boy sperm die before the egg is released. Having sex after ovulation supposedly favours boy sperm, because they should win in a straight-forward ‘sprint’ to your egg.
Your fertilised egg, which is now called a zygote, continues its journey along the fallopian tube to your womb.
Within 30 hours it has split into two cells, and it continues to divide into identical cells repeatedly throughout its journey to your womb, which can take up to five days. By the time it arrives, there are around 150 cells and the fertilised egg is now called a blastocyst.
Once inside the womb it attaches itself to the nutrient-rich wall, where it splits into two. One part will form the embryo and the other the placenta.
What’s happening to you
You’ll probably be unaware that your baby has implanted in your womb because you won’t feel a thing. Some women do get spotting or very light bleeding, as their egg beds down in their womb lining. But chances are that the first sign that you’re pregnant will come in about a week when your period doesn’t arrive as expected.
‘To do’ this week
Eat chocolate…if you want a girl! It’s one of countless old wives’ tales about choosing the sex of your baby. Of course, there’s absolutely no evidence to support this or most other theories. But you’ll have a 50 per cent chance of ‘success’, and you get to eat chocolate! So, go on, treat yourself…
